Egypt-Kazakhstan committee to convene in Cairo in September

Cairo will host meetings of the Egypt-Kazakhstan committee for economic, scientific and technical cooperation in late September, Industry and Trade Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said.

During a meeting with Kazakhstan Ambassador to Egypt Berik Aryn on Thursday, Abdel Nour said the committee will tackle means of promoting two-way trade and joint investments and cooperation in the scientific and technical domains.

The minister said that they had stressed the need to activate the joint business council to play an active role in developing trade and investment ties.

Abdel Nour said he will issue a decision next week to re-form the Egyptian side to the council.

The ministry is keen to boost Egyptian exports to Kazakhstan, especially in the pharmaceutical sector, which makes up more than 50% of total exports to the country, he said.

The ministry is seeking the possibility of exempting Egyptian pharmaceutical exports from a term on registering drugs once every five years, he added.

A delegation of Egyptian pharmaceutical companies will visit the country in early September to probe opening new paths for Egyptian exports.

Abdel Nour said his meeting with the Kazakhstani envoy took up the latest developments regarding free trade zone negotiations between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union (Kazakhstan is a member state).

The agreement will largely promote economic and trade ties between Egypt and Kazakhstan as well as other union members (Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan), he added.

For his part, Aryn called for enhancing the Egyptian participation in the international exposition of Expo 2017 to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan's capital.

Egypt's exports to Kazakhstan have remarkably increased in the past years, hitting $14 million in 2008, going down in 2009 due to the global financial crisis to $12.9 million, but spiraled up to $21.7 million in 2010, $38.3 million in 2011 and $45.3 million in 2012.

They were slightly down in 2013 over the political developments in Egypt to $42.91 million, and up again to $46.31 million in 2014.

On the other hand, Egypt's imports from Kazakhstan declined in 2013 and 2014 against 2011 and 2012 due to halting wheat imports from the country, registering $9.36 million in 2013 and $15.37 million in 2014.